Character Education

Romans 5:1-5

Rev. Stephen H. Wilkins

Georgetown Presbyterian Church

June 3, 2007

What do you say when you don’t know what to say? You know what I’m talking about: something bad has happened to a friend, and you rush to their side, but then you don’t know if you have the right words to say. We’ve all been in those situations. We feel like we have to say something, but what? What do you say when you don’t know what to say?

Over the years I’ve come across some things that people will say. Usually they are speaking truth, although the way it comes across is not always so helpful. For example, "All things work together for the good…" or "God helps those who help themselves…" or "That which does not kill us makes us stronger…" or "Think of this as an opportunity to grow…"

Except for the one about God helping those who help themselves, all of those things are true. It’s just that, at a point of crisis they are not particularly comforting, especially when the words come from someone who is not involved in the crisis.

What about some examples from the Bible? What are some of the things that we find God’s people saying in Scripture during times of crisis? Well, we do have Job’s friends, who come up with some choice words: "Consider now: Who, being innocent, has ever perished? Where were the upright ever destroyed? As I have observed, [says Eliphaz,] those who plow evil and those who sow trouble reap it." In other words, "Job, I would guess that you did something to deserve this suffering, because nothing like this ever befalls the righteous man."

Not exactly the most comforting words! Nor are the ones spoken by Jesus’ disciples when they encounter a man who had been born blind: "Who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?"

Again I ask, "What do you say when you don’t know what to say?" My general rule of thumb, for precisely the reasons I have cited above, is, "as little as possible." Because even if the words are true, sometimes it is better to wait until a more opportune time.

Today’s scripture lesson from Romans contains a teaching that can be similarly categorized in the true-but-not-always-helpful category, words that ought not be spoken carelessly to a person in the middle of a crisis: "We rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character hope…" I urge caution when using these verses because, though they are true, they will burn like salt on a wound if they are spoken at the wrong time or in the wrong way.

Virtually every word—rejoice, suffering, perseverance, character, hope—is common to today’s vocabulary, but the truth is the words are packed with meaning beyond what first comes to mind when we hear them. So this morning we would do well to pick through and parse the words, so that the meaning of what Paul is saying will become more clear.

Paul says, "Rejoice in our sufferings…" The use of the word "rejoice" is unfortunate, because it sounds like Paul is telling us to be happy whenever we encounter suffering, much in the fashion of the reggae song from several years back, "Don’t worry, be happy." But that’s not what Paul is saying. He does not tell us to smile, or to grin and bear it. The word that appears as "rejoice" appears elsewhere as "boast." Paul uses it in the sense that there is a contrast between bragging about self-sufficiency, and the Christian’s perspective of faith and dependence on God. And so when Christians boast, we do not boast about our own abilities or our own merits; we boast on the basis of God’s actions in our lives. To boast in our suffering means that we view our suffering through the lens of faith, and we allow our faith in God to color the way we look at suffering.

When we hear the word "suffering," there are as many interpretations as there are people in this sanctuary. Suffering can entail so many things, usually including some sort of pain. The word that Paul has chosen to use has the meaning of "being pressed down". It is the same word that the Greeks used to describe how an olive is crushed in order to extract the oil, or how grapes are smashed in order to get the juice. It is when there is intense pressure from without that we experience the kind of suffering to which Paul refers. And so suffering in the sense that Paul describes it takes place when we feel crushed or weighed down by the burdens of life, or under attack for taking a stand, or hard-pressed by opposition.

The challenge for the Christian is to pair the word "rejoice" with the word "suffering," because suffering in general is something we try to avoid. Suffering is rarely meaningless. But how we face suffering will determine whether we end up in despair or filled with hope. Can you see that Paul urges us to face suffering as it comes our way, not with despair, but with the assurance that God’s presence will transform the suffering – and us – in ways that we can’t imagine?

Suffering produces something in us, and what it produces depends on how we face suffering when it comes our way. If we face suffering through the lens of faith, as Paul urges us, then something strange happens. Suffering produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope.

The perseverance to which Paul refers is an active facing of troubles. William Barclay says that the word that is translated variously as perseverance or endurance is "not the spirit which lies down and lets floods go over it; it is the spirit which meets things [head-on] and overcomes them." Perseverance, then, is defined not by running away from troubles, but by facing them squarely and overcoming them.

One of the most famous quotes by Winston Churchill is from a speech he gave at the Harrow School on October 29, 1941. Some people have come to think that the only words he uttered during the speech were, "Never give up." The truth is, the speech lasted four minutes, and it contains many other words. I want to read the paragraph that contains the famous words:

You cannot tell from appearances how things will go. Sometimes imagination makes things out far worse than they are; yet without imagination not much can be done. Those people who are imaginative see many more dangers than perhaps exist; certainly many more than will happen; but then they must also pray to be given that extra courage to carry this far-reaching imagination. But for everyone… surely from this period of ten months this is the lesson: never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never-in nothing, great or small, large or petty - never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy.

Perseverance after the manner of Paul is the spirit that says, Never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never.

Perseverance produces character. Character is a popular word these days. Schools and businesses promote the development of character in people. In politics, character is often the deciding factor when elections come around. Generally speaking, when we talk of a person’s character, we talk about their positive traits.

"Character" in the sense that Paul employs the word has the connotation of personal fortitude. It is a word that elsewhere describes metal that has been so heated by fire that the impurities have been burned away. And so character that results from suffering and perseverance has the meaning of being made fit, or being made stronger through trial.

And the end of all this, says Paul, is hope. For the Christian, hope is more than wishful thinking. Hope is a confident expectation that transcends our circumstances. Hope is based on the belief that there is Someone greater than the sum of all suffering. Hope has its assurance of fulfillment, not in our own abilities or in the confidence that "things will simply work themselves out"; hope’s assurance comes from the knowledge that God is for us and with us. Hope’s assurance comes not because we can predict the future, but because we know the God in whose hands the future lies.

And we know that the God in whose hands the future lies is also with us in the present.

You see, the key to understanding what Paul says about suffering starts not with verse three, but with verse one, where he says, "Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ…" Because of what Jesus Christ has done for you and for me, our relationship with God has changed. Once we were enemies of God, rebelling against God and running away from God. A chasm existed between us and God, and it was impossible for us to find our own way across that chasm of separation. But now in Christ we are reconciled to God—Jesus Christ has restored our relationship with God. Where once we were at odds with God and separated from God, now God is with us and for us.

Suffering is not the same anymore, because Christ has transformed our suffering. Suffering still happens, but now instead of leading us toward despair, we can face suffering knowing that we are not alone, that because God is with us and because God is for us there is reason to persevere, to stand through the testing, and to live into hope.

For nearly 150 years, Western Christian missionaries were active in China. But for all their hard work, when the communists took over in the 1950s, there were only about 840,000 Christians in all of China. When the communists took over, they expelled all foreign Christian missionaries, and for nearly forty years the Christians in China experienced tremendous persecution and suffering. When China began opening up to the West once again, missionaries returned, fearing that the Church in China was dead. What they found instead was that there are now more than fifty million Christians in China.

An American Christian went to China to learn more about the growth of the Church during the persecution. In the back of his mind was the question, "If God loves the Chinese church so much, why did he allow so much suffering to come upon it?" After he had spent months visiting leaders and laypeople in the Chinese church, the missionary returned with a different question: "If God loves the American church so much, why hasn’t he allowed us to suffer like the church in China?"

It’s a good question.

We spend so much of our lives trying to avoid suffering. This week’s Newsweek cover story deals with continuing scientific developments in the battle against pain. It’s symptomatic of our attempts to buffer ourselves from any kind of suffering.

Certainly, I do not advocate going out and asking for suffering to come upon us. But when we find ourselves in the midst of suffering, isn’t there a better response than to run away?

Paul says we rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.

Rejoice in our sufferings. Can you do that?